Chapter Text
MINHOs.
He watched the rusted clock hanging off their falling apart wall. There was something calming about the ticking sound of the hand in the dead silence of the room. Then again, Minho needed the distraction. If he directed his thoughts to something else, he wouldn't have to think about the fact that they were broke, about to get evicted and haven't done a gig in three months.
By they he obviously meant his partners in crime Changbin, Chan and Jeongin. All living together in their small cramped apartment with nothing more than 20 dollars in their bank accounts, it was at times like these Minho wished his 1 year old ass at the time had never been dumped in a trash can by his unknown parents. Had he just grown up like every other child in a decent household, none of this shit would have been happening to him.
"Agh! Fuck it!"Changbin suddenly shouted, getting up from their worn out couch.
"Spare my eardrums will you?"Jeongin drawled as he opened the microwave to heat up the cold pizza from last night.
Changbin shouted again and stuffed his face in a pillow."This is driving me insane."
Minho sat up from where he had been lying on the floor. He fished out a crumpled sheet of weed he stole from some wasted guy at a nightclub three days ago."The fuck is wrong with you?"
Changbin flung the pillow across the room, almost hitting Jeongin who was walking over to Minho to join him on the floor.
"Am I the only one who's concerned here? If Chan comes back with no plan we're done for!"
"Being concerned about it is not going to help fix anything. You need to relax."Minho replied.
"I'm saying. Also be positive and don't jinx it you fuck."Jeongin offered a slice to Minho but he declined, losing his appetite at the sight of the falling vegetables on it.
"We've been positive for three months now and what has that gotten us? Countless nights of eating shitty takeouts and wasting away in this oven you call a house!"Changbin complained.
Minho scoffed, rolling the weed."Oh I think he is for real losing mind."
"So will I if he doesn't shut the fuck up. We're all going through it here too but you don't see us throwing a tantrum now do you?"Jeongin gritted out.
That seemed to intimidate Changbin as he cleared his throat and sat back down on the couch, the sound of squeaking springs of the couch following.
Minho laughed in disbelief, lighting up his joint and taking a lazy drag. He needed to get high before he started going insane like Changbin.
"If I was a woman I'd just go strip or something."Jeongin chewed on his pizza.
"Is it good?"Minho asked.
Jeongin grimaced."You know it ain't."
"You don't have to be a woman to strip. There are a lot of gay clubs for you to throw it back and....."
"What would he even be throwing back? He flat as a pan."Chan walked in, toeing his shoes off with his laptop in hand.
"Hyung! Tell me you got good news?"Changbin shot off the couch and went to cling on his arm.
"I told you guys to always close the door even when you're home. You're trying to get jumped or what?"Chan scolded as he slammed said door shut.
"It was Changbin."Jeongin shamelessly ratted him out.
"Do we have something?"Minho asked.
"Damn right we do."Chan shoved Changbin's arm off of him and sat down crisscrossed on the floor next to Minho.
He switched on his laptop and opened up a tab with a profile of what looked like the wealthiest royal looking family if the clothes they were wearing were anything to go by.
"What's this?"Changbin pushed Minho aside to peek at the screen.
"Before we go anywhere, i need you to agree to this Min."Chan looked at him.
He frowned."Agree to what?"
"You're going to be carrying out the most part of this mission so if you say no then we'll have to pass on this one."Chan warned.
"He's not really in any position to be saying no."Changbin chimed in.
Minho's mouth parted in disbelief."How am I already being guilt tripped into shit I don't even know about?"
"Hyung, just explain what's going on."Jeongin urged.
"Alright."Chan scrolled down the page with a family picture on it.
"This is the Han family. They're a royal family. Kind of. 5th on the Forbes list. The parents have four sons. Felix, Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jisung. The hype around the brothers is that all four of them are gay."Chan explained.
"Oh shit. Like us."Changbin snickered.
"I'm not gay."Jeongin jumped in.
"You're a walking rainbow dude."Changbin retorted.
"No the fuck I'm not."Jeongin shot back.
Changbin blinked."Uh...yes you...."
Minho elbowed Changbin."Not the time."
"Felix is the youngest, he's 21, Seungmin is 22, Jisung 24 and Hyunjin is 27. There's a matchmaking ball tomorrow for the youngest. It's common in these types of families and a bunch of prestige men are invited over where Felix gets to choose who interests him among them. The chosen guy spends six months getting acquainted with the son before they get married and this is where you come in Minho."Chan looked at him.
Minho stared back at him, gluing up the pieces together in his head because he was just quick witted like that."Now I know damn well this is not going where I think it is."
Chan gave him a sheepish smile."Out of all of us here you fit the standard of men they're looking for. Come on Min, this would be our biggest breakthrough."
"Let me get this straight, you're asking me to go there, pretend to be interested in this Felix guy, flirt with him and make sure he ends up choosing me. Then deceive him for 6 months and run off right before the wedding?"
"Yeah?"
Minho let it sink for a few seconds weighing his pros and cons before nodding and standing up."Depends on the benefits though. What are we working with?"
"The guy that's accepted into the family as a boyfriend of one of the sons is paid like pre dowry money then moved into the palace where he stays with the son and gets acquainted with him like I said."
Jeongin scowled."So technically they're paying you off to entertain their son for 6 months then eventually marry him?"
Changbin shrugged."That's what it sounds like to me. That's some fucked up shit. Why can't they just date and fall in love like normal people?"
"Because they're not really normal people. They're wealthy. Wealthy enough to buy a damn country so every aspect of their lives involves buying, trading or investing. Anyways, they seem to have a system that every child should be married before 30. Looks like the other sons are still searching for the right match because these parties are held for each and every one of them when they turn 21 and onward."Chan elaborated.
"This dowry money. How much is it and when do I get it?"Minho asked curiously.
"Since it's pre, around $5000 and you get it as soon as the parents approve of you. But first, the son has to like you. You need to leave a really good impression. You only have that night to appeal yourself. Do you think that's something you can be able to do? I mean I trust you can because you're attractive and know your shit."Chan said.
Jeongin shuddered."God no. Don't boost his ego."
Minho went to squat down next to them and looked at Felix's picture. The guy looked his age if not younger. Freckles adorned his cheeks, his blonde shoulder length hair tied in a high half ponytail, heart shaped pink lips and doe eyes. He was very pretty he'll say. Not his type but beautiful enough to not mind spending half a year with him and fucking the living daylights out of him.
He smirked."I'll do it."
Chan beamed."Really? Thank you! Fucking hell, thank you bro."
Jeongin shook his head."That's just his deprived dick talking."
Changbin laughed."I mean why not? It's like killing two birds with one stone. Gotta get the best of both worlds."
Minho ignored them and found himself scrolling down to the last picture of one of the sons."Who's this?"
"It's written there dummy, Jisung."Jeongin pointed at the underlined name."Oh, he's like two years younger than you."
He hummed, eyes skimming over the curly long hair on the guy, round face and his chubby cheeks. He scrolled back up then stood up straight, putting his blunt out and saving the rest of the weed for later.
Changbin worried his bottom lip in concern."But these men that go to these parties for sure come from wealthy families too. Wouldn't Minho...."
"I already got that taken care of."Chan interrupted."I just need to print out the documents of your family registry and all that shit but don't worry. You're sorted there."
Minho arched a brow."So I never really had a chance to say no huh?"
"I mean I didn't print them out yet so you still had a chance."Chan reasoned.
"Whatever. Looks like we're back. So what are we robbing this family for?"Jeongin asked.
Right. See the thing about them was they were not just your usual thieves that went about robbing people because they can. It was more so of a returning good in a bad way type of situation. Their targets were mainly families involved in sketchy and corrupt stuff that disadvantaged the less privileged. The less privileged being them in particular. Yes it was not an excuse for what they were doing but atleast the intentions were good.
"The father is operating and funding some underground drug lab business that recruits underage homeless kids to sell cocaine and fentanyl in exchange for some cash to sustain themselves. They're a vulnerable group in society so the amount of kids that go there is a lot. Sad part is that they're being exploited because they're not being paid enough to get themselves a place to stay."Chan told them.
Minho sighed."It's always something with these rich families."
"We're going to bag the profit they make from those labs then expose that shit to the world."Chan continued.
"Please. We're not some kind of superheroes. Let's just rob and move on like we've always done."Jeongin of course disagreed because he's never not once made it clear that he was just in this for the money and nothing else. All that shit about the interest of people and whatnot, he could not be bothered by.
Chan nodded."I mean that's still cool. I just figured since this is dealing with kids these time, we could show some sympathy because at the end of the day we've all grew up in the streets without families of our own."
"Hyung, respectfully I don't give a fuck. We can't end all the bad in the world on our own. Also, so long as it doesn't involve those kids dying then we really don't need to go that far. This is a big family we're dealing with. I don't think you want to mess with them like that."Changbin reasoned.
"Bin is right. Plus, when you think about it, if we expose them those kids lose their source of income. They're going there to get by even if it's not by much."Minho added.
"Fine. It was just a suggestion. Shall we get started then? We need to get you a suit or something that matches the dress code."Chan closed the laptop.
"And where are you're going to get money for that?"
"My savings. I'm quite literally investing in you right now."Chan put his hand on Minho's shoulder and squeezed."So you better not fuck this up."
Minho pulled his hand off of him."When have you ever seen me fuck up an operation before Hyung?"
"Never?"
"Exactly."
~~~~~
Minho was high but not high enough to not be coherent. He just couldn't have went to this damn event of rich snobs without taking a hit. He grabbed a glass of champagne off the tray the waiter passing by had been holding and said a polite thank you which sold as the waiter smiled before walking off. Standing by the table packed with all kinds of food, Minho scanned his eyes across the room. There were a lot of men more than women for obvious reasons and some couples dancing and swaying back and forth to the shitty classic music.
"Do you see them? They there yet?"Changbin's voice sounded in his ear piece.
"Of course not. He would have said something."Jeongin's annoyed voice followed.
"He's being too quiet. What if he doesn't even know where the fuck he is? I told you not to send him there high."Changbin's voice raised with each word that left his lips.
"He'll be alright."Chan's voice said calmly.
"He's still fucking mute right now dude. Yah Minho? Did you see Felix's picture earlier more clearly? Don't get them confused. If you see him you should...."
Minho clenched his jaw."Will you shut the fuck up?"
"Oh. So you can hear me?"Changbin sighed in relief.
"And why the fuck wouldn't he you idiot?"Jeongin remarked.
Minho was so done with them he just switched off his ear piece and removed it. He downed the rest of the drink in his glass and grabbed a toothpick to stab it into one of the red grapes on the serving dishes. Just as he shoved it into his mouth, he felt the murmurs around the big room of the big palace die down. He turned around and immediately saw the four sons coming down the grand stairs, all eyes on them while they engaged in a funny conversation it seemed judging from their quiet giggles and laughs. Felix was the only one that wasn't laughing, eyes disoriented.
Minho noticed that even as the other three brothers laughed, it was etiquette and composed. They were definitely trained for this lifestyle. Minho shoved another grape into his mouth as the sons dispersed to converse with the others while Felix remained at the end of the staircase, scanning the room. Another waiter then passed by and Minho took two glasses of cocktails from him, mumbling another polite thank you before making his way to the blonde young man.
"Would you care for a cocktail? You look like you could use one."Minho came up from behind.
Felix startled and turned to look at him, surprised widened eyes that were dusted with pink blush beneath them.
"Sorry."Minho apologized.
Felix shook his head and shyly smiled."It's okay."
"Would you like some?"
Felix hesitantly looked at the glass.
Minho smiled and took a sip of both drinks."Better now?"
"Sorry. I didn't want to come across as rude but....."
"It's common sense. You're fine. Do you still want the drink?"
"Yes please. Thank you."Felix took the glass and Minho didn't miss the way his eyes lingered on his face before looking away.
"For someone this party is being held for, you look disinterested."Minho kept some distance between them but not too noticeable as the aimlessly walked at a steady pace.
"Was it obvious?"
"Only because I was staring."
Felix's eyes widened again."Oh."
"Is it not your type of setting?"Minho purposely ignored his reaction.
"Huh?...Uh...yeah. I....Not really."Felix stumbled over his words, clearly haven't recovered yet from Minho's blunt flirting.
"I figured much."
"I'm guessing it must be your type of setting then? Since you're here and all."Felix subtly moved closer.
"No. I'm just here for the free food and alcohol."
Felix suddenly stopped to stare at him as if waiting for him to say it was a joke but Minho just continued walking, sipping on his cocktail and eyes wandering around the room.
He giggled and caught up."You're funny. I thought you'd say you're trying to win my favor just like everyone else is here for but I guess not. I kind of like that."
Minho hummed."Maybe don't like that."
"Hmm? Why not?"
Minho downed his cocktail at one go and halted to lock eyes with the younger."Because I do want to win your favor."
Felix was rendered speechless as he kept the eye contact.
"Why? Does that make me lose my appeal and seem the same way as everyone else here?"Minho put down his empty glass on a nearby table.
"Not really."
"You seem caught off guard though."
"No. It's just that...you're very straightforward. Most people I've met always try to sweet talk me or say something ridiculous like they've fallen in love at first sight with me or something like that. It's never really genuine."Felix said, a hint of sadness in his tone.
"Do you like me being straightforward Felix?"
He looked down, probably to hide his flustered expression."Yeah."
Minho moved to stand in front of him and took Felix's glass from his hand to put it away.
"Min Joo."
Felix looked up at him with confused eyes."Huh?"
"My name. Min Joo."
"Oh. I'm Felix."
Minho chuckled lightly."I know, pretty."
Felix blushed and cringed at the same time."Right."
"So now that we've exchanged names, may I have this dance?"Minho asked, reaching out an open palm to him.
"Yes. Of co......"
"No you may not."a voice from behind them interrupted Felix.
They all turned to look and standing there was one of the sons. His brows knitted in a frown, arms folded and round face half covered by black curly hair.
It was the second oldest of the Han brothers.
Felix smiled while Minho's mood quickly dampened for some reason.
"Jisung."